S tretching 2.2 miles along the Atlantic and decades back into history, the Long Beach boardwalk during the postwar years was a place where lasting memories were made — of playing Skee-Ball, enjoying the rides at Playland or devouring Izzy’s Knishes.

“In that time of my life, from when I was 5 to when I went away to college, Long Beach was just fun,” remembers psychologist Jim Oshinsky, 73, of Oceanside, who was raised in Manhattan and spent summers on the Long Beach boardwalk. “Arcade games and ice cream on a summer night with your friends or your girlfriend — I mean, for that phase of life it didn't get any better.”

Generations of beachgoers have felt much the same way since 1880, when the Long Island Rail Road got extended to Long Beach that spring and the new Long Beach Hotel fully

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